Author: Hugh G Wetmore

Contemplation on Hymn used at Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral- Hugh Wetmore

This week I watched the funeral service for Queen Elizabeth II at the majestic Westminster Cathedral.  You probably watched it too. I was impressed with the imaginative choice of a standard evening hymn as the opening congregational song for her funeral — and that vast congregation knew how to sing […]

Peace like a river — Hugh Wetmore

There’s a popular worship song that goes like this:             “I’ve got peace like a river, peace like a river,            I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.            I’ve got peace like a river, peace like a river,            I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.” It is […]

Forever with the Lord! — Hugh Wetmore

These days we hear a lot about death.  Usually in sensational news reports.  21 under-age children found dead in eNyobeni Tavern, Gqeberha.  Farm attacks leave so many dead. Man kills his partner, then himself, and leaves their three children orphans. Robbers with high-calibre firearms storm a township tavern, killing six people. […]

Charles Stephens — Da Timothy Code: Shepherding the flock without fleecing the sheep: Book review

Da Timothy Code grabbed and held my attention because, with church history as a major at university, I had taught church history at the Union Bible Institute. I had given special emphasis to the churches from which my African students came. I gained many new insights from Chuck’s book. Alongside this has […]

Song lesson for Julius — Hugh Wetmore

We have all watched with interest the trial, in which Afriforum has charged Julius Malema for hate speech when he sang the struggle song Kill the Boer.  They allege that these lyrics fuel anti-Arikaner hatred that has been inciting farm murders in South Africa.  How does Julius defend the song? “The […]

The worship service: then and now — in one lifetime! (3)

In the previous two Worship Columns, we have surveyed the changes in our worship services in the course of a lifetime.  Some changes are neutral, other are harmful. This month we celebrate the positive changes that have been taking place. Let’s identify some contemporary changes that are positively healthy, for […]

The worship service: then and now — in one lifetime! (2)

In my last column I traced the changes that have taken place in the Church’s worship services.  For the most part these were neutral’ changes. They were more superficial cultural changes that did not affect the deeper levels of our Christian being.  We observed movements from formal liturgies to freer […]